Hillesheim Family

Happy Fourth Birthday Emily

Brett — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:51:21 +0000

On Monday, June 13th, Emmy turned FOUR! She was a little bit excited for her birthday!

We stayed an extra night in Atlanta so that we could easily drive to the Chattanooga Aquarium for her birthday. She’s been dying to go and we just happened to have a few extra passes! So, she woke-up, opened a few small presents that we had with us, and headed out! She chose IHOP for her birthday breakfast, so we stopped along the way and had a good meal.

We had a great time at the aquarium when we finally got there. Emmy loved the butterflies, penguins, turtles, frogs, and otters! She wasn’t quite sure of the sharks though…

We ate some pizza at Mellow Mushroom for a late lunch / early dinner and headed home. At home Emmy got to open the rest of her presents. The next night we made her tacos and a birthday cake since we didn’t have time for that on Monday. I think Emmy was quite pleased!

Vacation 2011 – Wrap-Up

Brett — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:34:37 +0000

Man! Obviously I took a little break from blogging! Here’s the rest of our vacation! Sunday in Atlanta we visited with a church there. We had a great time seeing the church and getting to see a little bit of the area. Sunday was pretty low key, but we did get a chance to swim at the resort pool. We also played a giant game of checkers! There was a big game and pieces near the pool, so Anna and I battled!

Monday we headed out to go back home. I’ll tell you more about Monday in a separate post since it was also Emmy’s 4th birthday!

A couple of thoughts/memories from the trip:

One night at Disney Emmy fell asleep on the bus ride back to hotel room and never really woke-up when we got back. In the middle of the night I woke-up to Emmy saying, “Daddy, Daddy, I think our ride is done.” I explained it had been done for a while!

Anna’s favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! I think we rode it 3 times this year (maybe 4). Let me say that she loves it, but I hate it! I can’t wait till she’s old enough to ride it by herself!

If you are the type of person who steps on someone else’s sand castle at the beach then you are a jerk.

One night in Atlanta Summer and I were awoken by the sound of Emmy giggling hysterically in her sleep. Oddly enough, she woke up grumpy.

Anna wants to move to Atlanta because there is an American Girl Doll Store there.

That’s it for vacation this year!

Vacation 2011 – Atlanta (Saturday)

Brett — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:12:05 +0000

We left Clearwater Beach this morning and drove to Atlanta. Not too much to tell about the drive. Everyone had good naps except for me…

Anyway, we made it to Atlanta by 5 pm. We’re stay at the Evergreen Resort by Marriott in Stone Mountain Park right outside Atlanta. It’s really nice! We have a lake view room. Stone Mountain Park is pretty cool, they have a bunch of different attractions here. We haven’t had the chance to see any of them yet, but hopefully tomorrow we will.

Vacation 2011 – Clearwater Beach (Friday)

Brett — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:26:13 +0000

Today was our last day in Clearwater. We’ve had a GREAT time! Today we started off by going to the pool, the girls didn’t sleep as late today, and then we went to the beach. Emmy repeated her swimming skills from yesterday again today! At the beach we made our biggest sand castle ever! Plus a sea serpent! The waves were bigger today too, so we had fun bouncing around in them. We ate snacks down on the beach. The girls had oatmeal cream pies, except Emmy’s was snatched out of her hand by a seagull! It surprised her mostly, but also hurt her feeling that a seagull would steal her favorite snack! After a little crying she was fine. Anna even let Emmy have the rest of her Oatmeal Cream Pie, she’s such a good big sister!

We spent a long time down on the beach, and then finally headed back to get ready for a late dinner. We ate at Clear Sky Cafe, our best pick yet! Everything there was very good and unique. If you’re ever in Clearwater Beach go there! After dinner we walked the beach one last time. Emmy picked up a shell that turned out to be a crab! Freaked her out a little bit, but not as bad as the seagull! After that we ended the night with some more ice cream! Tomorrow we head to Atlanta!

Vacation 2011 – Clearwater Beach (Thursday)

Brett — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:19:06 +0000

Wow! The girls slept until 11 o’clock today!!!! Summer and I took full advantage of that! So, we got a later start to the beach, but we still made it there and had a blast! We made an even bigger sand castle, swam, gave the kids who knocked down our sand castle dirty looks, and pretended we were mermaids (it does nit lessen ones manliness to be Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid!) After the beach we swam in the hotel pool for a while, and Emmy swam for her first time without her floaties!!!! She did really, really good! She just seems to have a natural knack for it!

After the pool we got ready, went to eat, and then went to watch the sunset at Pier 60. The girls got to do the trampoline bungy jumping thing, and then we walked to the end of the pier to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful night! Afterwards we made our way back to our van and got some ice cream! It was an awesome day, but tomorrow will be our last full day here. After that we head to Atlanta for a couple of days.

Vacation 2011 – Clearwater Beach (Wednesday)

Brett — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:49:27 +0000

Our first full day at the beach! It is also Summer and I’s 9 year wedding anniversary! We slept in a little this morning and then hit the beach! We swam, picked up the sun umbrella, built a sand castle, picked up the sun umbrella, had a snack, picked up the sun umbrella, and swam some more. After the beach we swam in the hotel pool before getting ready for dinner. We ate at a place we ate last year, The Palm Pavilion, last year we loved it… This year, well, they must have got a new chef… After dinner we had Ice Cream, and then went back to the beach for some beach portraits! Summer did a session for the girls on the beach, and it looks fantastic! After we finished the photo shoot we played mini-golf! Emmy didn’t much like hitting the ball with her club, and by the end would just go and drop her ball in the hole. We wrapped up our golf game (Summer and I tied), and went back to the hotel to sleep. A great day with the family, and a great anniversary!

Vacation 2011 – Disney/Clearwater Beach (Tuesday)

Brett — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:12:07 +0000

We left Disney world today. Even though we’re totally exhausted it’s always sad to leave! We slept late, ate some breakfast at the Resort cafeteria, and did a little more shopping in the gift shop. After that we headed out to Clearwater Beach! After about an hour and forty-five minute drive we got to our hotel, changed into our swim suits and headed for the beach! The water was perfect! After a little while we headed back to the hotel room, showered, and went out to dinner! We ate at a place called Crabby’s, it was within walking distance from our hotel. Then we went for a sunset beach stroll. We collected sea shells and splashed in the waves. All-in-all a great day! We got back to the room and had an early bedtime, to help recoup after Disney!

Vacation 2011 – Disney (Monday)

Brett — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 04:27:18 +0000

Well… That’s it for Disney! Today we got a little later start and went to Hollywood Studios for the first part of our day. We had a good time on the Toy Story ride, Narnia, Star Wars, Little Mermaid, Muppets, and more! We had fun, but just like Animal Kingdom for us I think we can do Hollywood Studios every other year. After dinner at Hollywood Studios we headed back for our final few hours at Magic Kingdom. We rode our favorite rides there, watched the fireworks one last time, and left exhausted!!! We went fir 12 hours today, in all we were in the parks for a total of 43 hours in 3 days! The girls never whined, pouted, cried, or threw a fit! They are AWESOME!!! Tomorrow it’s off to Clear Water Beach! We’ll miss Disney, but hopefully we’ll be back next year!

Vacation 2011 – Disney (Sunday)

Brett — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:19:20 +0000

Wow! Today was ALL Magic Kingdom! We arrived at the park at 10:00 am and stayed until 2:00 am! Yep, that’s 16 hours in the park, and the girls were perfect again! (OK, they’re a little tired, but they’re behavior was great!)

We were able to ride every ride we wanted to, plus several two or three times! Anna’s favorite is still Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Emmy’s got too many favorites to name! It was a great day!

Vacation 2011 – Disney (Saturday)

Brett — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:19:24 +0000

Our first day in the parks!!! We started the day off at 9:00 am when Epcot opened! We had a great day at Epcot. We rode every ride we wanted to, PLUS rode a few twice! We had an awesome dinner with the princesses at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, then headed over to Magic Kingdom to see the castle and ride some rides! The girls stayed going strong until park close at midnight! That’s right! They Disneyed for 15 hours straight! Yeah… They’re a little exhausted now! Tomorrow we’re back at Magic Kingdom for another fun-filled day!